Sweden

May 28, 2017(updated on November 19, 2017)

Profile

Country/Territory

Sweden

Activity

The Swedish government funds numerous Israeli, Palestinian, and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (Secretariat), and indirectly by outsourcing to Swedish church groups and aid organizations such as Diakonia.

In 2016, Sweden provided at least $17.7 million to NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many of these NGOs and church aid organizations or are involved in anti-peace activities such as incitement, BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions), and legal attacks (“lawfare”) against Israel.

Some of these groups also have alleged ties to terrorist organizations

Reflecting a lack of transparency, over $38 million dollars from 2012-2016 millions of dollars was diverted to “unspecified” projects.

Overall funding from Sweden was over $59.4 million for 91 activities in 2016.

Sweden, together with the governments of Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, jointly fund the Secretariat, with Sweden being the lead donor. For 2014-2017, this funding mechanism has a budget of approximately $19.4 million. The funds are managed by the Institute of Law at Birzeit University (IoL-BZU) in Ramallah and a Swedish consulting company, NIRAS.

Sida initially provided over $5 million to the Secretariat (2014-2016). In 2017, Sweden extended its funding through 2018, with an updated total commitment of over $9 million.

In 2016, Sida paid $34,678 for an internal review of the Secretariat. It is unknown who carried out this evaluation.

The Secretariat funds highly politicized NGOs that are involved in the whitewashing of violence and terrorism, legal warfare (“lawfare”) against Israeli officials, BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, advancing a “1948 agenda,” exploiting the false “apartheid” analogy to discredit Israel, and even promoting antisemitic propaganda. Some of these groups also have alleged ties to terrorist organizations. NGO Monitor has extensively documented numerous concerns relating to the Secretariat.

Click for a compilation of articles highlighting NGO Monitor’s contributions to the broader conversation about NGOs, funding, and accountability in Sweden. These include blogs and op-eds written by NGO Monitor and staff, as well as articles citing NGO Monitor, or otherwise relevant to our mission.

On June 19, 2014, Israel’s Defense Minister declared IRW to be illegal, based on its alleged role in funneling money to Hamas, and banned it from operating in Israel and the West Bank. Hamas is a designated terror organization by Israel, the US, EU, and Canada. According to media reports, the decision was made after “the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the coordinator for government activities in the territories, and legal authorities provided incriminating information against IRW.”

NRC received $1.8 million (2014-2016) from Sida (see table above). Sida provided 6% of NRC’s funding in 2016, down from 8% in 2015.

In 2014, the NRC reallocated nearly Swedish krona (SEK) 60,000 of its funding in Gaza, stating that the “reallocation will fund two NGOS in Gaza (PCHR and Al Mezan) to monitor Housing, Land and Property (HLP) violations and home destruction resulting from Operation Preventative Edge in Gaza in July/August 2014. The information collected has been used to inform the international community of the extent of damage in Gaza and to feed into international justice mechanisms, including UN procedures.”

A lawyer affiliated with the NRC program stated that the objective of these cases are an attempt to “try every possible legal measure to disrupt the Israeli judicial system… as many cases as possible are registered and that as many cases as possible are appealed to increase the workload of the courts and the Supreme Court to such an extent that there will be a blockage” (emphasis added).

NRC demonstrates a lack of transparency and inadequate accountability. It does not provide information regarding amounts transferred to implementing partners. In addition, some of these NGOs are highly active in damaging lawfare campaigns.

Diakonia has received multiple grants from Sida, amounting to nearly $7.8 million (2014-2016) (see table above).

Diakonia received €250,000 (2016-2019) from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a project called “Enhancing Legal Knowledge on Humanitarian Assistance and Development in Area C.”

In 2014-2017, Diakonia transferred over SEK 16.6 million to its local programs, and its country and regional offices (see table above). Of this, nearly $1.5 million (2014-2016) went to the Diakonia International Humanitarian Law (IHL) program. The IHL program, which has its own online “Resource Center,” exploits international law, vilifies Israel, and promotes lawfare campaigns and a narrative based solely on Palestinian victimization. The IHL program focuses exclusively on Israel, and Diakonia does not conduct similar types of programs in terms of content or resources in any other conflict region in the world.

Diakonia also provides funding to local Israeli and Palestinian organizations, but does not reveal how much it provides. Some information is revealed by Sida (see “indirect funding” below).

Sweden sends about 20 participants on the EAPPI program annually. Upon returning to their home countries, many EAPPI activists use their experience in the West Bank to promote campaigns, including BDS.

A 2013 Sida evaluation of KtK states, “KtK is vocal in its denouncing of so called Normalisation of the relationship between Israel and the occupied Palestinians and support Women’s organisations with a clear Anti-occupation profile such as women (and their families) bereaved through martyrdom or jailing due to opposition to the occupation forces.”

KtK claims that “Neither Palestinian women nor Bedouin women can get any legal protection against this discrimination, since they are not covered by the Israeli anti-discrimination laws.” KtK immediately contradicts itself by stating that “there are laws on the positive discrimination of women and Arab citizens.”

In 2015, KtK received 65% of its funding from Sida. NGOs in “Israel and Palestine” received €1.4 million in funding from KtK in 2016, 23% of KtK funding distributed to the entire Middle East region.

A 2014 Church of Sweden document states that spending and projects in the Middle East region amounted to SEK 10.2 million. In many cases, it is unclear how this funding is distributed or where the projects are specifically located.

Oxfam received nearly $2.4 million (2015-2016), as part of a total funding package of approximately $10.8 million for 2015-2020 from Sida (see table above).

Oxfam consistently paints a highly misleading picture of the Arab-Israeli conflict, departing from its humanitarian mission focused on poverty. Most Oxfam statements erase all complexity and blame Israel exclusively for the situation, and these distortions and their impacts contribute significantly to the conflict.

Oxfam claims to work with over 60 partner organizations in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, but does not name these organizations.

ECFR writes extensively on what it calls the “differentiation” policy, calling for sanctions against Israeli entities (and certain individuals) that have activities in or apparent financial contacts with Israeli settlements, claiming that this does not constitute BDS.

ICHR received approximately $1.2 million (2014-2016) from Sida. Sida has committed approximately $1.3 million to the ICHR for 2014-2017.

ICHR is a quasi-governmental Palestinian organization, established in 1993 with a declared mandate “to follow-up and ensure that different Palestinian laws, by-laws and regulations, and the work of various departments, agencies and institutions of the State of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organization meet the requirements for safeguarding human rights.”

PMU provided SEK 5.1 million to “Palestine” for development projects and SEK 99,774 for humanitarian projects in 2014.

PMU claims that they do “not implement the actual projects itself, but instead coordinates humanitarian aid with local and international partner organisations whose values are close to those of PMU; partners who we know have the same outlook on mankind reflected and turned into action to help the most vulnerable people.”

Pingst and PMU do not reveal which organizations they fund or how much they provide to these NGOs.

Forum Syd does not appear to work directly in the West Bank and Gaza, but rather funds international NGOs that channel funds to NGOs in the region, including Palestine Solidarity in Sweden (Palestinagrupperna i Sverige – PGS), Islamic Relief Sweden, and Föreningen Emmaus Björkå (see below for more details about these organizations).

Save the Children received grants totaling $1.8 million (2014-2016) from Sida. Save the Children also received SEK 1,250,000 in 2015 in Swedish co-funding for EU funded activities in the West Bank and Gaza.

The evaluation was written by Jessica Montell, a member of the Secretariat’s Reference Group and former B’Tselem Executive Director. The Swedish government failed to respond to NGO Monitor’s concerns about conflicts of interest in this evaluation.

Diakonia

Received SEK 1.4 million (SEK 360,000 per year from 2014-2017) from Diakonia.

According to the Diakonia-sponsored 2013-2015 project description, Sabeel claims that Israel is “routinely committing violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of principles instituted after World War II to ensure that civilians would ‘never again’ suffer as they had under Nazi occupation. Israel is one of the leading violators of these conventions today.”

In May 2017, WATC inaugurated a youth center for girls in the town of Burqa, near Nablus. As reported by Palestinian Media Watch, the center was named after Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist who in 1978 murdered 37 civilians, including 12 children. Funding for this building was provided by Norway, UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), and Palestinian Authority Ministry of Local Government. Upon learning that the center had been named after a terrorist, the Norwegian government and the United Nations issued strong condemnations. Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende stated that “We have asked for the logo of the Norwegian representation office to be removed from the building immediately, and for the funding that has been allocated to the centre to be repaid.”

Prior to the organization’s founding, AIC co-founder Michael Warschawski was a leader of “Matzpen,” the anti-Zionist Trotskyite organization. Warschawski was jailed in the 1990s for publishing an informational pamphlet for the PFLP terror group (verdict on file with NGO Monitor).

Founding member of the ACT Alliance, which promotes rhetoric against Israel, international BDS campaigns, and the Kairos Palestine document – that characterizes terrorist acts of “armed resistance” as “Palestinian legal resistance,” denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms, calls to mobilize churches worldwide in the call for BDS, and compares Israel with the South African apartheid regime.

Received SEK 8.3 million (2014-2017) from Forum Syd. Some of this funding is intended to be used in Sweden. Part of the NGO’s goal in Sweden is “to increase knowledge about Sweden’s official positions on the Palestine-Israel conflict, as well as Sweden’s support for Palestine in the form of development aid.”

PMRS’ President, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, referred to the Gaza conflict as a “horrendous massacre,” and used the terms “ghetto” and “apartheid” on a radio program.

PMRS refers to the security barrier, constructed in the wake of virulent campaign of suicide bombings targeting restaurants, cafes, buses, and shopping malls, and killing hundreds of Israelis, including scores of children, and wounding thousands as the “apartheid Wall.”

In September 2016, Sama Awiedah presented at a conference hosted by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) at a panel titled “BDS and the intersection of feminism and national liberation struggle.” The panel discussed how the “BDS campaign against Israel serves as one manifestation of resistance to colonialism and imperialism and towards envisioning an alternative future.”

On March 8, 2016, WAC was a signatory to the “Palestinian Women’s Call for Worldwide Women’s Endorsement of BDS,” which called on women and feminists to join BDS campaigns, as “the Israeli regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid has for decades denied the Palestinian people our inalienable right to self-determination.”

KtK funds a project with WSC and WAC called “Bereaved to Bereaved,” which “support[s] women whose homes have been demolished and family members have been killed or imprisoned, as a result of the occupation.” This project does not indicate that those family members almost certainly were engaged in violent activities.

Olof Palme Center

Olof Palme transferred SEK 1.2 million (2015-2017) to its local offices.

PYALARA (The Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation)

Received SEK 1.7 million (2015-2017) from Olof Palme Center.

In January 2014, PYALARA co-produced a TV program referring to Jews as “crows” and armed “rats” while visuals of Israeli soldiers appear on screen. The broadcast continued, “But we know that the gates will smile only when we enter them… Jerusalem will never accept any language other than Arabic and any nationality other than Palestinian, no matter how much the flags of the foreigners fly in its sky.”

In October 2015, at the height of a wave of terror attacks against Israelis, DWRC posted a statement released by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) on Facebook and Twitter, calling on Palestinians to boycott Israel as a show of “solidarity” with the “current phase… [of] Palestinian popular resistance” and praising the “increased [] isolation of Israel and [] its regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid and occupation.”

Related Articles

A number of known NGOs that advocate for BDS against Israel released a report calling on the French government to force French banks and insurance companies to “disengage without delay from any financial link with Israeli banks."

The report of the Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza War extensively quotes biased and unreliable political advocacy NGOs, many of which receive funding from the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, a joint funding mechanism of Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

A government donor consortium managed by Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, provides millions of dollars to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs that engage in legal and political warfare to demonize Israel.

The Swedish government funds numerous Israeli and Palestinian NGOs that lead campaigns and political activities that are inconsistent with Swedish government policies to promote peace and a two-state framework for the Arab-Israeli conflict.

On July 1, 2009, Sweden will assume the presidency of the European Union. Swedens role in funding numerous NGOs that pursue radical political agendas, including rejecting any form of normalization with Israel, fuels the conflict. Diakonia international law project that uses distorted and misleading interpretations of international law. Funding for the AIC, PCHR, and Al-Haq. Sabeels Nakba Memory program. Other NGO grantees use apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and massacres rhetoric. Many NGOs receive Swedish funding from multiple sources, raising questions about administrative procedures and oversight.

The Swedish Swedish government indirectly funds a Swedish NGO, the Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM) of Sweden. Some of this money is used specifically to influenc[e] Swedish foreign policy. PSM is also an active promoter of BDS campaigns.

Diakonia is Swedens largest humanitarian NGO, receiving most of its budget from the Swedish government. Some of the organizations programs appear to be genuine and important humanitarian projects. Diakonias Civil Society and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) programs overtly promote the Palestinian narrative, and fuel the conflict. Attributes structural problems in the conflict solely to the continuing of the occupation, the building of the Wall, and the fragmentation of the Palestinian territory. The IHL website promotes a so-called right to resist and delegitimizes Israels right to self defense.